MG Rover Flags Up New Drive

By Craig Cheetham

05th January 2005

MG Rover's chief of sales and marketing, Rod Ramsay, said: "Our European customers love buying British, and cars don't come more British than ours. It's a natural marketing advantage we're looking to build on at every opportunity."

The campaign is biggest in Germany, where salesmen at a Berlin dealer have dressed up as bobbies on the beat. Later this month, the firm will recreate an Albert Hall-style 'Last Night of the Proms' in the city, with Union Jack bowler hats, bobbing Promenaders and big-band versions of Jerusalem and Pomp and Circumstance. It's also backing a Shakespeare festival, to be held in a handcrafted replica of the Globe Theatre, and has donated money towards the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche, the Dresden church destroyed by British bombers in WWII.

Further afield, MG Rover showrooms in Italy are running a competition promoting the use of the English language - the top prize being a holiday in Britain. In the Netherlands, dealers are offering cricket workshops for customers as part of a sales promotions package.

In France, Portugal and Spain, the firm is supporting events associated with traditional British pastimes such as rowing, tennis and gardening. It's also backing Luxembourg's national 'Rover 75 Supporters Club'. The group meets regularly to celebrate the car's Britishness, and will drive in convoy to the centenary celebrations at MG Rover's Longbridge plant this summer in the West Midlands.